This fascinating collection of tales that recall the days when the waterways formed the principal means of transportation around the country, from those who lived and worked on the traditional painted narrowboats of the midland canals to the skipper of a tug on the Manchester Ship Canal. Also included are the dredgers, lock-keepers and blacksmiths. There are provocative stories of home life too, and information on how familes coped on the waterways. A brief history provides the background, enhanced by maps, watercolours and evocative archive photographs, giving a complete picture of how life on the waterways used to be.